gHacks technology news » windows software

Windows Application Switcher

Martin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:06:45 +0000

If you ask Windows users how they switch between applications then a majority will likely state they they use the Windows taskbar to do so. But there are others who prefer a keyboard shortcut like Alt-Tab to quickly bring another running program or window to the front. The free software Switcher offers another possibility. The now abandoned program was initially designed to be compatible with Windows Vista but tests have shown that it is fully compatible with Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 7 as well. Best of all, the application is available as a portable version as well.

Switcher will display a configuration menu after installation which can be used to configure the program. This starts by choosing one of three view modes, animation and appearance settings or the window style over filters, keyboard shortcuts and detailed advanced settings.

The user should take a close look at the view modes available and at the keyboard shortcuts and adjust them for better personalization. A total of three view modes are available: Tile, Dock and Grid with Tile being the default view mode.

Tile will simply place all windows on the screen whereas dock places them on top and grid ordered and next to each other.

The settings window can be hidden afterwards and the application itself controlled by the keyboard shortcuts. All windows will be displayed in the selected view mode after the corresponding keyboard shortcut is put into action. The same key is then used to switch through the windows. The enter key will bring the selected window to the front.

All windows are numbered and it is also possible to press a number to bring the window to the front immediately without having to flip through individual windows first.

Another interesting feature is the multi-monitor support that is enabled by default. Switcher can be downloaded from the developer’s website where it is available as an installer and portable version.

Windows System Tray Manager

Martin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:19:56 +0000

Have you ever asked yourself to which software program a specific system tray icon belongs? While it is usually easy to tell by left- or right-clicking on the system tray icon it sometimes can be more difficulty. Inexperienced users might prefer an easier solution to identifying system tray applications. The system tray manager System Tray Cleaner is a system tray analyzer for the Windows operating system. It will automatically recognize visible system tray icons and offer the user to display information about them in the default web browser. The concentration on visible icons diminishes the value of the software program for Windows 7 users where most system tray icons are hidden by default.

A user wanting to lockup these icons would need to make them visible which can be easily done from the available customize link.

All visible system tray icons will be listed on the custom web page. Each in its own row with information that include the name, system path, description, company and its icon.

A click on an item will open a detailed overview of that application (if available) that contains actions at the top, descriptions and technical information at the bottom of the page. The actions listed at the top can be used to perform various task including terminating the process responsible for the system tray icon and uninstalling the application.

System Tray Cleaner is an easy to use system manager that can assist the user in identifying system tray icons. The majority of Windows users on the other hand might prefer the manual way of researching system tray applications due to a number of reasons including privacy concerns. Users who want to test the application can download it from the developer’s website. It is compatible with most versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Tags: system tray cleaner, system tray icon, system tray manager, system-tray, windows software

Use Unsigned Drivers In Windows Vista And Windows 7

Martin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:08:18 +0000

One of the security enhancements that Microsoft has added to Windows Vista and Windows 7 is the enforcement to only accept digitally signed drivers in 64-bit editions of those operating systems. The operating system would refuse to install and run a driver without digital signature. There are several points of view on the purpose of this enforcement. Microsoft states that it is important for the security of the computer systems, developer’s don’t like it as much as they have to pay for digitally signed drivers and end users don’t like it because it can mean that the operating system is not accepting some of their drivers (even if they would work properly).

The only way to overcome this restriction temporarily is to press F8 during system boot.But this would have to be done on every boot which can become quite a nuisance.

Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider is another option. The software program makes use of a developer test option in both operating systems to load drivers which would otherwise be rejected by the operating system.

These drivers still have to be signed but not digitally which means that the operating system will accept the signatures that are provided by the software.

This option does come at a price though as it is required to disable UAC, the User Account Control, to run the program in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

How to use the program:

So how do I use it?
First and foremost; you are using this software at your own risk, we do not take responsibility for any damages to your system, but we do not believe it can harm anyone anyway. Secondly, User Account Control (UAC) must be disabled in-order to use this tool as well.

1. Go ahead download and launch the application from the link below. Inside its main menu, press on the “Enable Test Mode” button and follow the instructions on the screen. This will enable TESTSIGNING mode, which allows unverified system files to be loaded.

2. Now all you have to do is to add the unverified signature to the required system files. To do so press on the “Sign a System File” button from the main menu, and enter specific filename including full path. For example: if ATITool64.sys from C:\Windows\System32\drivers refuses to load due to driver signature enforcement, you should type: “C:\Windows\System32\drivers\ATITool64.sys”, and if you would like to sign more than a single file, just repeat this procedure until you’re done, and finally reboot.

After you enabled Test Mode and added signatures to the required system files, they should bypass Windows’s driver signature enforcement and load without any issues.

Is it worth disabling UAC for it? This has to be answered by everyone individually. Windows Vista and Windows 7 users who want to give the software program a try can download Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider from the developer’s website.

Tags: driver, driver signature, Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider, windows 7, windows software, windows-vista

Auslogics Disk Defrag

Martin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:28:59 +0000

Auslogics Disk Defrag is a hard disk defragmentation software for the Windows operating system. Recently version 3 of the software program has been released; Reason enough for us to take a look at the improvements in this new version. At its core stands the option to defragment all connected hard drives of the computer system. The hard drives can be analyzed before the defragmentation to ensure that it is necessary to start the process at all. Hard drives can be unselected which is helpful in several cases including connected solid state drives or encrypted partitions that are not mounted.

The analysis will display the total number of files and the number of fragmented files on the PC system. Auslogics Disk Defrag can then defragment the selected hard drives. A new feature is the option to optimize the fragmentation by consolidating free space by placing all files on the disk contiguously.

The top menu contains several additional options, namely the option to defragment a file or folder and to change the process priority of the defragmentation.

The defragmentation can be paused and resumed anytime. One interesting option is the defragmented file view which makes it possible to take a look at all defragmented files of the selected hard drive. Most changes have been made to the core including performance improvements to the defragmentation process, better tie-ins with the Windows Task Scheduler or better processing of files that are locked by the computer system.

Auslogics Disk Defrag is available as an installer or portable version. It can be downloaded from the developer’s website where it is available for all Microsoft operating systems that have been released since Windows XP including Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Interested users can take a closer look at the release notes to read about all of the changes that have been added to the disk defragmentation software. (via Download Squad)

Tags: auslogics disk defrag, Defragmenting Software, disk defragmentation, portable software, windows software

Install Multiple Applications With AllMyApps

Martin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:11:33 +0000

AllMyApps offers a similar functionality as Ninite which we have reviewed last month. Both applications allow a computer user to install multiple programs without further user interaction. But that’s where the similarities end. Ninite creates a custom installer based on the selection of applications that the user makes on the homepage. AllMyApps on the other hand consists of a software program that needs to be installed on the computer system and an online part which consists of the selection of applications and the sending of these information to the installed software.

Another difference that becomes obvious right away is the support for both Windows and Linux operating systems whereas Ninite only supports Windows. AllMyApps on the other hand makes it more difficulty to finish the process, especially at first run. The user needs to download the application and install it on the computer system. An account at the website needs to be registered afterwards. Once that is done it comes down to selecting the applications that should be installed on the user system.

That selection takes more time compared to Ninite as the developers have listed them in categories with no apparent option to view all at once. It usually takes a few clicks to add an application to the list of applications. AllMyApps offers more applications than Ninite does. Both seem to provide access to popular applications such as CCleaner, Google Talk, Paint.net or ImgBurn to name a few.

The applications need to be transferred to the installed application. The web browser will display a launch application dialog (Firefox does at least, not tested in other web browsers) with the AllMyApps application preselected. Security software of the operating system, like UAC in Windows, might also display a prompt that needs to be accepted before the data can be transferred. The program will then display the applications in its interface giving the user the option to cancel or start the installation.

A click on start will initiate the download of the setups and afterwards the installation of the selected software programs without further user interaction. Users who want to install multiple applications at once now have two programs to chose one. Ninite works only in Windows and does not offer as many applications but is less complicated to use. AllMyApps is compatible with Windows and Ubuntu Linux, offers more applications to install but makes it harder to install the applications due to the registration and software selection process.

Users who want to try out AllMyApps can visit the project’s homepage to do so.

Tags: allmyapps, install, install applications, install software, linux software, ninite, windows software

Video To MKV Converter

Martin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:41:01 +0000

VideoToMKV is a comfortable software program to convert various video formats into the Matroska container format (mkv). The program utilizes the ffmpeg library for the conversions. New videos can be easily added to the application by drag and drop or a file browser. The videos that have been added are then displayed in the main interface. The only other controls available in the interface are located in the header menu at the top.

Here it is possible to change the output directory and video bitrate before the queued videos are processed. Advanced users can edit batch files with advanced settings that are located in the program’s installation directory. These batch files contain the default configuration for the video to mkv conversion. The standard settings produce great results but advanced users might want to tweak the settings further to improve the quality of the output further.

Video To MKV will automatically detect several subtitle formats (srt, idx, sub) which are then automatically embedded in the mkv file that is created. The software program supports multiple audio channels as well.

Video To MKV is an easy to use program. All it takes to convert videos to the mkv format is to drag and drop them into the interface to process them one after the other. Advanced users can tweak the settings in the supplied batch files. Not the most comfortable way of editing the video conversion settings but better than no options to tweak them at all.

The software is available for download at the developer’s website. It is compatible with most versions of Microsoft Windows and does not need any additional software installed to function properly.

Tags: convert to mkv, mkv, video, video to mkv, windows software

Desktop Torrents Search Engine Torrent Fetcher

Martin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:59:06 +0000

Users looking for torrents usually go to a website like Mininova or The Piratebay that index torrents. An alternative to this is a desktop torrents search engine like Torrent Fetcher is available for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Torrent Fetcher comes with a comfortable interface to perform the search for Bittorrent files from the local computer system without firing up a web browser first. This method has several advantages including the ability to search multiple torrent indexers at once, the display of all discovered torrents on the same page in the same interface and a comfortable option to download torrents without having to switch pages.

Torrent Fetcher uses a basic interface that contains both the torrents search engine and the results listings. It is possible to enter a search phrase and start the search for torrents right away or configure some of the advanced options like the number of results that should be retrieved, the torrent download directory or a specific category that should be searched to avoid that unrelated torrents are displayed in the search result listing. Up to 1000 results can be displayed by the software. Categories include the usual assortment of games, tv shows, movies, software and music that one finds in almost every torrent search engine on the Internet.

Torrents in the search results are displayed with their name, size, seeders, peers and date it was added to the database. Torrents are color coded so that the user can see on first glance if a torrent is well seeded or not.

A double-click on any file will download the torrent to the local computer system. Some Bittorrent clients can be configured to monitor directories for torrents. The programs could therefor be configured to start the downloads of the files right after the download of the torrent file has finished if the client supports it. There is also an option to automatically launch downloaded torrents which is another way of adding them directly after download the Bittorrent application.

The developer of Torrent Fetcher could improve the software program by adding the following features to it:

The ability to retrieve additional information about a torrent. It is currently not possible to see where a torrent originated from.
The option to download multiple torrents at once.
Search filters like excluding words from the search results or searching for an exact phrase.

Torrent Fetcher is a comfortable alternative to searching for torrents on websites. It does not offer the same amount of information that those websites usually offer on the other hand. This is something that the developer should consider improving on.

The software program is available for download at the developer’s website. It is compatible with most versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Tags: bittorrent, torrent, torrent fetcher, torrents, torrents search, windows software

Create Desktop Icons With Simply Icon

Martin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:32:25 +0000

Desktop icons, or icons in general, come in handy in several situations but mainly to replace existing icons on the computer desktop or in applications. It is for instance relatively easy to replace an existing icon in the Windows operating system with another although it depends on the data type. System icons can for example be changed by right-clicking on the computer desktop and selecting Properties (or Personalize) from the menu.

Windows ships with a limited amount of desktop icons and some users might prefer to create their own icons for a more personal experience. Simply Icon is a lightweight software program to create desktop icons. All the user needs to do is to drag and drop an image into the applications interface. The application will automatically created four different icons in the sizes 128×128, 64×64, 32×32 and 16×16.

The newly created icons will be stored in one file in the same directory as the original file that was dropped into the application. Best suitable images for a conversion into icons are images that have the same height and width.

Simply Icon can be downloaded from the developer’s website. It does require the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 which needs to be installed before the application can be executed.

Tags: desktop icons, icons, portable software, simply icon, windows software

Sumatra PDF Reader 1.0 Released

Martin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:40:40 +0000

We reviewed the Adobe Reader alternative Sumatra back in the beginning of 2008 and came to the conclusion back then that Sumatra was a lightweight and fast replacement that was ideal for viewing PDF documents. Version 1.0 of Sumatra was released yesterday which actually was one of the two updates that the developer of the pdf reader has published this year. The main changes since our last review are better pdf reading compatibilities, bug fixes, other compatibility fixes and additional features that have been added by the developer or contributors. Contributors you may ask? Sumatra is Open Source and it is therefor possible for others to contribute to the program.

Sumatra concentrates on pdf viewing only but does that very well. Pdf documents are opened blazingly fast and the program does not require lots of computer memory or resources in general to operate. It is offered as an installer or portable version and it’s size of 1.1 Megabytes make it an ideal candidate for mobile usage.

We had some complaints about Sumatra which are still valid. It is for example not possible to mark and copy text from the documents. Not everyone might need that feature but those that do need to find another pdf viewer that comes with that option.

The main interface language of Sumatra (English) can be easily changed to several dozens others that are included in the download. The installer and portable version as well as the source code can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Tags: adobe pdf, pdf, pdf reader, portable software, sumatra, windows software

Flickr Desktop App Destroy Flickr

Martin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:35:20 +0000

Destroy Flickr is the second Adobe Air application that provides Flickr users with capabilities to manager Flickr from the computer desktop. It was one of the recommended applications in the comments of the Zflick Flickr photo viewer review. Destroy Flickr can only be used by Flickr users to manage their own uploaded photos. This limits the reach of the application quite a bit, the remaining functionality has been perfectly brought to the desktop on the other hand.

The user needs to authenticate the application at the first startup after entering the Flickr username or email address. The process is painless and should take less than a minute to complete. It does involve logging into Flickr with the default web browser to allow Destroy Flickr access to the user data.

Destroy Flickr comes with all the functionality needed to manage a Flickr account from the computer desktop. It can be used to view uploaded photos, download uploaded photos, take a detailed look at specific photos, look at photos of contacts or the popular category at Flickr.

The application uses a very slick interface with lots of effects that look really great but do not slow down the application. It’s main use on the other hand is definitely the upload and download capabilities that are provided which makes it more comfortable to work with photos without having to open the Flickr website.

Destroy Flickr needs Adobe Air installed on the computer system. This does make it a cross-platform application on the other hand.

Tags: adobe air, destroy flickr, flickr, flickr application, windows software

Check Open Computer Connections With My Ports

Martin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:23:10 +0000

Ports are what connects your computer to the outside world. This can either be in a network or the Internet. Open ports are required for many things like connecting to websites, downloading files, chatting or uploading photos to Flickr or Facebook. Most ports are only open when they are needed by an application. Problems can arise if ports are open all the time as these can be used by malicious users and automated scripts to attack the computer system.

It is therefor recommended to regularly check the open ports for computer security reasons. We reviewed CurrPorts (see: Who is connected to your PC right now) a while ago. It is a portable Nirsoft application that will display the open ports along with information needed to conclude if the open ports are needed or not.

My Ports is another application for that purpose. There is not really a big difference between both programs we’d figure it would be nice to have an alternative at hand. My Ports displays all open ports in a list after startup. It uses a table to display various information about each open port on the computer system including the state, local and remote IP address, local and remote port, process name that is listening or using that connection and the process path to that application. It is not as sophisticated as CurrPorts but it does its job just fine.

Most of the open connections can be easily associated with one specific program like Firefox or Skye in the screenshot above. Other ports are listening due to Windows Services or other services that are running. These usually require some investigation on the user’s part to find out if they are needed to operate the computer system. A search on the Internet usually reveals websites that contain information and advice on how to deal with those connections.

My Ports is compatible with most Microsoft operating systems including Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. It can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Tags: computer security, connections, my ports, ports, windows software

Microsoft Security Essentials Updater

Martin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:45:19 +0000

Microsoft’s new and free security software Microsoft Security Essentials received some raving reviews since its first release as a beta version. The final version of the antivirus software program was released alongside Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 7. Microsoft Security Essentials is using Windows Update to update the virus definition files which can be problematic in situations where Windows Update is not activated by default which is for example the case in company networks where updates are tested before they are applied to computer systems. It can also be helpful if Windows Update is not working properly (either because of a computer virus or other form of attack or because of other reasons).

Nakodari over at Addictive Tips has created a small software program called MSE Update Utility which can be used to update Microsoft Security Essentials even if Windows Update is disabled.

The update intervals of the software can be selected in the main interface after startup. The choices are daily, weekly, monthly or on startup with the additional option to add the program to Windows startup. The program could be an interesting option for users who cannot use Windows Update to update Microsoft Security Essentials. It seems though that the update tool needs to be running in the background to update the virus definitions. A better solution would be to either run and quit after updating the definition files or use the Windows Task Scheduler to schedule the updates.

Tags: microsoft security essentials, microsoft security essentials update, windows software, windows-update

How To NOT Offer A Program Publicly

Martin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:59:30 +0000

So I discovered that program Freeware Updater which looked interesting enough to be a potential candidate for a review here at Ghacks. I downloaded it and scanned it at Virustotal. It passed that check and I began the installation of the program with the usual double-click on the program executable. The software program did display a few options (said no to start menu entry and to starting the application after installation).

A message popped up halfway through the installation telling me to close Freeware Update to continue the installation. That sounded a bit weird as the installation of the (same) program was not finished yet. I clicked on the OK button only to be greeted with the same message again.

It got a bit silly after pressing ok for about ten times. Next stop was the Windows Task Manager which only listed the installer of the program as open. I figured that something went wrong, killed the setup in the task manager and started the installation again. The result was unfortunately the same. Last chance was to run the installer as administrator which – again – led to the error message.

It could be that the program is not compatible with Windows 7. But the developer’s have not added any compatibility information to their website so that this was impossible to check. A likely reason is a check if the program is running. Maybe that check does only look for the Window title and figured that the installer was actually the main program. Checked the forum to find a post of a user who reported the same problem. It is apparently possible to run the installer in safe mode. The user also mentioned that older versions did not have the problem.

Whatever it is I quickly killed the process, deleted the program and decided to stop wasting my time with a program that simply would not work for me.

Tags: freeware updater, installer, setup, windows software

How To Change Default Programs In Windows

Martin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:45:29 +0000

Default programs in Windows are those programs that are started when opening or editing certain file types or protocols. It can be an image viewer or editor for image formats or a web browser like Firefox or Internet Explorer for the http protocol. I recently encountered a problem in Windows 7 that was driving me crazy. My preferred image editor Paint.net was not the default program when right-clicking an image or photo and selecting edit from the context menu. Windows 7 would instead open the default Paint application that was overhauled for the operating system.

A visit to the Set Default Programs section in the Windows Control Panel did not help either as Paint.net was not among the programs to chose from. Even worse, there was no option to add additional programs to the list of default programs.

Associating the file types, e.g. jpg or bmp, with Paint.net was also not what I wanted as it would not only associated the edit command but also the open command with Paint.net and I did not want to use Paint.net as my main image viewer.

Then I discovered the free program Default Programs Editor which helped me tremendously. The program offers three options after startup: To edit file type settings, default programs and autoplay settings.

The Default Programs Setting option was, to my surprise, the same option that Windows 7 provided. No help here but the File Type Settings option on the other hand led to what I wanted to do. A click on Context Menu on the next page (which also contained options to change the icon or description of a file type) led to a listing of all registered file extensions.

It is here possible to select a file type and edit its associations with the additional option to configure individual applications for opening, editing or printing unlike the default file association setting in Windows which only allows to set one application that is then responsible for all actions.

The Default Programs Editor helped me change the edit action for image formats from Paint to Paint.net. It took a bit longer than it should as I had to locate and edit all file types manually but it was a once-a-lifetime operation that was definitely worth it in the long run. Microsoft on the other hand should really think about adding an option to add other default programs to the list of default programs in Windows as it is rather nerve wreaking to search for a solution online.

Defaults Programs Editor is available for download at the developer’s website. The free software program is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 and requires the Microsoft .net Framework 3.5 to be installed before it can be used.

Tags: change default program, default programs, default programs editor, edit default program, windows software

Windows Readyboost Monitor

Martin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:39:36 +0000

Readyboost is a technology in Windows that was introduced in Windows Vista and improved for Windows 7 by Microsoft. The technology basically allows the computer user to select a flash drive for memory caching. The effect is noticeable on computer systems with 1 Gigabytes or less of computer memory installed. The thinking behind this is that flash memory offers in general a better performance than platter based hard drives.

The improved Readyboost technology in Windows 7 now supports a maximum cache size of 32 Gigabytes opposed to the 4 Gigabyte limit in Windows Vista. Windows 7 also supports up to eight Readyboost devices compared to one in Vista and can improve the startup performance as it can be used during startup as well.

The Windows Readyboost Monitor is a system tray application that will display information about the Readyboost performance on the computer system. Information that are monitored and displayed include the read and write speeds and totals, the cached size, compressed size and the cached and compressed ratio.

The program starts monitoring the Readyboost performance right after installation and startup. It can be an excellent tool to analyse the utilization of the Readyboost technology to see if it does make sense to use it in the operating system (if nothing gets cached there is not really a need for it).

ReadyBoost Monitor is available for download at the developer’s website. It is compatible with Windows Vista and requires the Microsoft .net Framework 3 to be installed.

Windows 7 users can use the Performance Monitor to check on the Readyboost performance in their operating system. The easiest way to get there is to enter [perf] in the start menu search programs and files form.

Click the [Add] button.

Select [ReadyBoost Cache] from the available counters.

Results.

It is not likely that the developer of ReadyBoost Monitor will add support for Windows 7. The last update of the program dates back to 2008 and lots of users have left comments in the guestbook (the place the developer asked users to leave comments for future versions) asking for Windows 7 support.

Tags: readyboost, readyboost monitor, windows 7 readyboost, windows readyboost, windows software, windows vista readyboost

Windows Clipboard Manager PasteCopy

Martin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:16:48 +0000

It is not really clear why Microsoft never improved the default behavior of the Windows Clipboard. The biggest flaw in the eyes of most users is the inability to store more than one entry in the clipboard. So called clipboard managers are designed by third party developers to provide this and additional functionality. PasteCopy.net is but one of those Windows clipboard managers. It requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 as the name suggests but is otherwise portable and available in multiple languages.

The software program will monitor the Windows clipboard by default and memorize any contents that are copied by the user. Contents that have been copied are displayed in the program’s interface. The length of text and the type of the contents are displayed there with a handy preview feature to preview image or text right in the interface. Images can also be zoomed in case they had to be resized to fit in the interface.

The copied contents in the interface can be saved so that they are available after a restart of the program. That’s handy for entries that need to be copied frequently. The settings contain two handy options to convert rft and html text that is copied to the clipboard manager. These are disabled by default but can be activated so that these formats get converted automatically. Good for uses who do not want to include html or rtf formatting when pasting contents they previously copied.

Contents that are stored in the clipboard manager can either be pasted by left-clicking on them and using the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl V], right-clicking the mouse button and selecting Paste or dragging and dropping them from the PasteCopy interface into another application.

PasteCopy is a small Windows clipboard manager that offers some interesting features. An option to use keyboard shortcuts for pasting various clipboard entries would be a good addition to the program though. The software program is compatible with most Windows operating systems including Windows 7. It can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Tags: clipboard, clipboard manager, pastecopy, portable software, windows software, windows-clipboard

Virtual Router Turns Windows 7 Into Wifi Hotspot

Martin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:30:06 +0000

Connectify was the first downloadable application that used the virtual Wifi capabilities of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system to turn the computer system into a Wifi hotspot. The developers offered the program as a beta version that could be freely downloaded. Their intention on the other hand was to sell the software program once they managed to compile a retail version of the virtual Wifi software.

Virtual Router is another application released a few days ago as beta that makes use of the virtual Wifi options in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Unlike Connectify though it has been released at Codeplex which suggests that the program will remain free even after it has been released in a final version.

The program’s interface contains only a few options. The Start Virtual Router button being the most important. This button is only active if the computer uses a supported wireless adapter. Other options include changing the network name, password (recommended as the default password is always the same). Virtual Router uses WPA2 Encryption to provide a solid protection for the wireless network.

Virtual Router can be downloaded from the program’s Codeplex page. It is only compatible with Microsoft Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 and requires a compatible wireless adapter.

Tags: virtual router, virtual wifi, wifi, windows 7, windows server 2008 r2, windows software, wireless connection

Convert Audio And Video In The Windows Explorer Context Menu

Martin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:15:06 +0000

Oxelon Media Converter makes audio and video converting in the Windows operating system a breeze. The software program integrates itself into the Windows Explorer context menu providing users with options to start audio and video conversions right from the explorer window. It does support the conventional option of adding multimedia files to the program’s interface as well but the Windows Explorer integration is what makes it more comfortable than comparable video and audio converters.

The program will add two new entries to the right-click menu in Windows Explorer if one or files are right-clicked. The first entry deals with audio conversions offering to convert the selected files into various audio formats while the second while convert videos into different formats.

Video Formats: 3GP, 3G2, ASF, AVI, DV, DVD MPEG2, FFM, FLV, GIF, MOV, MP4, MPEG1, MPEG2 PS, MPEG2 TS, NUT, PSP, RAW YUV, RM, SVCD MPEG2, SWF, VCD MPEG1, VOB, YUV4MPEG, M1V, M2V, M4V.
Audio Formats: AC3, AAC, AIFF, AMR, AU, FLAC, MMF, MP2, MP3, OGG, VOC, WAV.

It is even possible to select multiple different file types for the conversion. The selection will open the main program’s interface listing all the selected programs with information like name, size and playing time. The selected output format is configured as well which leaves the user with the task to select an output path and the possibility to make last minute changes to the output format.

The program will start the conversion of multiple files at once to speed up the process further. This can be changed in the program’s options. Speed and quality depends largely on the source and destination file format but also the performance of the computer system. Oxelon Media Converter is available for most Microsoft Windows operating systems including the three most recent systems Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. It is necessary to download both the program files and a plugin pack which both need to be installed separately.

The media converter is a comfortable alternative to other popular media converters. We did not like the fact that it was not possible to save the download path in the software program. It was also rather annoying that the developer’s website was opened whenever the program was closed. This can be prevented with the right firewall rule for the application.

Tags: convert audio, convert video, media converter, windows software, windows-explorer

Portable Free Stopwatch Program

Martin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:36:41 +0000

Need a stopwatch because you want to know how long it takes to write an article, signup at an online service, write an email or load a certain website with your favorite web browser? The stopwatch should also be free, portable and absolutely lightweight? Then Only Stop Watch might be the application that you have been looking for. The 13 Kilobyte program can be run from any location after it is unpacked, ideal for mobile usage especially since it does not use lots of storage space.

The program will display the stopwatch window after startup. First start might be a bit confusing as the program starts to count right away. The F5 key on the keyboard will stop the count. Another press on the same button will start a new countdown while F6 will continue where the last count was stopped.

That’s actually the whole stopwatch program. The only settings that are available can be used to switch the language from English to German, to remove the milliseconds and to prevent the stopwatch program from automatically starting the count after program startup.

Only Stop Watch is ideal for users who need a lightweight tiny and free stopwatch program. The software program uses less than 1 Megabyte of computer memory while running actively on the computer desktop.

Only Stop Watch can be downloaded from the developer’s website. It is compatible with most versions of the Windows operating system.

Tags: portable software, stop watch, stopwatch, stopwatch program, windows software

How To Manage The Windows 7 Boot Menu

Martin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:21:40 +0000

If you have installed Windows 7 on a computer system that was running a different operating system before chance is that you now see that other operating system in the boot menu during startup. There is not really a need for this unless you decided to go with a dual-boot system for some time. Users who completely switched to Windows 7 might want to remove the old operating system from appearing in the Windows 7 boot menu to speed up boot time and avoid possible mistakes like booting into the wrong operating system.

Windows 7 users who want to remove, edit or add entries to the Windows 7 boot menu have two basic options. The first is available in form of the Msconfig utility that ships with every version of Windows 7. Msconfig might help but it can happen that it is not displaying the other operating systems as was the case with our Windows 7 Pro test system which we upgraded from Windows XP Pro.

The second and more reliable option is Easy BCD, a boot menu editor for Windows 7.

The software program comes with the means to remove, edit and add operating systems in the Windows 7 boot menu. It is for instance easy to remove an existing entry by opening the Add/Remove Entries menu in the program, selecting the operating system that should be removed and clicking on the Delete button.

The application does provide access to extensive settings ranging from configuring the bootloader timeout to advanced options like configuring DEP/NoExecute settings, debugging options or limitations to the cpus and physical memory. The boot menu manager offers a backup option so that the previous settings can be recovered in case of an emergency.

Easy BCD is exactly what the name implies, easy to use. It can be downloaded at the developer’s website where it is available for Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Tags: boot manager, boot menu, easy bcd, windows 7 boot, windows 7 boot menu, windows boot manager, windows software

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